Rethinking Holiday Coverage on Your Blog This Year

Gift guides, gift guides gift guides: “find the perfect gift,” “be the most thoughtful gifter with ___”, “amazing gifts under $50…” I love reading gift guides, but absolutely HATE writing them! They are super time consuming, and in my opinion, can be largely unoriginal, and since I started getting pitches for them back in October, it's put a bad taste in my mouth this year. Then, self-realization struck,

“Hey – hold on — I don't have to do them! And if I decide to do them, I don't have to do them in the most expected way!”

With the onslaught of shopping, parties, travel, and all things festive, schedules become jam-packed and anxiety of “getting it all done” in time sets in. Often times what happens, at least for me, is that in order to just get it all done, I don't necessarily take the most creative route, and fall into a routine rut of doing those darn gift guides.

Whatever your vice may be when it comes to holiday coverage, I encourage you take a minute or two and reconsider your approach. There's a good chance that there may a more on-brand way for you to approach the holiday coverage.

See below for a few suggestions to inspire your 2014 holiday posts:

The Gift Guide

These aren't my favorite thing to do, obviously, but I breathed new life into the format by altering the categories for my most recent iteration. Instead of “for mom, for dad, for your significant other,” I created categories with more personality and interests built into them, such as “for that tattooed friend or relative,” and “for the hardest working gal you know.”

Once you get started, thinking of other categories that are specific yet can apply to a wide group will become easy. Some other suggestions are “the Instagram-aholic friend,” “your relative with THE most perfect hair, always,” or “your friend with the funniest Facebook updates.”

Oh yeah, and don't forget “your fashion blogger bestie”!

The Outfit Post

Loose-fitting cashmere sweaters, over sized floppy hats, over-the-knee boots, and some sparkle — these items seem to frequently be found in personal style blogger posts in the winter/around the holidays, but I think there's a way to certainly make it more personalized and holiday-focused. One suggestion would be to wear and write about a piece that you received as a gift and the details surrounding it (when, from whom, why you love it), which may inspire your readers to purchase similar-items for their friends and family, as well as draw them in to your personal holiday experiences.

In the first post, you can let readers know you're going to do this, so that they know to check back daily or weekly (however often you post) for the next time you'll be showcasing a great gift received via your personal style. Another option could be break down the pieces found in your personal style look, and find/link to three similar items at different price points so that if your readers want to purchase something you are wearing as a gift, there's an option for every budget.

The Existing Category Holiday Tweak Option

What are the types of posts that you are currently writing on your blog, and/or the categories that define them? Which of these would make most sense to incorporate some holiday info into them? For example, on my site, Tuesday is the day that I write about beauty, so it would make most sense for me to run a “10 Great Fragrances to Buy for the Holidays” post on that particular day, since the reader already expects some beauty-related coverage of some sort, and since its full-on holiday mode this time of year, it wouldn't feel out of place.

Is there a particular store or brand that you write about a lot? Perhaps doing a round up of objects just from them would make a lot of sense for your site and reader expectations. If you have done giveaways in the past, doing one for the holidays with products that you would love to receive, or by incorporating brands that your readers seem to really enjoy could be the ultimate holiday post!

Need more inspiration? See these awesome IFB posts for additional ideas:

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About The Author

Blogging at her site Fashion Pulse Daily since 2008 and working on fashion's editorial side since 2003 has lent Julia the acumen to think creatively and endure in the colliding worlds of blogging, fashion and beauty. New York City is her backdrop for inspiration (and many a outfit photo), where she is often found on her couch, feverishly typing away at her latest post, with her trusty feline at her side. Follow her on Instagram , Twitter, and Pinterest.

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8 Responses

Excellent ideas, Julia!!! I am not a big fan of gift guide posts either, but I also recognize that readers appreciate them. As a back up, I created a shopping page for my blog and update it often – as I find cute gift ideas or just cute things. xx Zumahttp://www.livingzbeautifulmix.com

I agree with most of this, but I honestly don’t even know how much readers care for them either. As a blogger they feel so uninspiring to write and as a reader they feel cheap like bloggers only want me on their site for my rewardstyle clicks. They just feel so bland and see through. The truth is I barely know what my own mom wants, much less any of yours. 😛

I wish they’d stop being such a blogging trend as a reader and a content creator!

I love these ideas! I’ve always steered clear from gift-guides and holiday posts in general because I’ve always felt they were unoriginal as you said. This year I hope to do a round-up of my holiday recipes and outfits in one post at the end – to keep it short and sweet for my readers. 🙂

Seriously everyone I follow is doing the 12 days of Xmas giveaway thing, or promoting all the gift sets. I’m looking at what would be great for everyone-this would be written for guys or family members who have no clue what to get beauty lovers. Let’s be honest: we all like to pick out our own makeup, so we can suck to shop for. Gift guides can be trite during the holidays too. That’s why I’m working on something more broad, if that makes sense.

I prefer style blogs to fashion/shopping blogs (i.e., outfit photos over polyvore collections) and gift guides aren’t really my thing….but I love the suggestion of showcasing a gift you’ve received in the past. Sometimes we give gifts and later wonder where they end up, or if the person really liked it/put it to use. It’d be interesting to see what people chose as memorable gifts – usually these are accompanied by a story.

Gift guides during holiday season have become very monotonous that people careless about it. I thing sharing a post on the true spirit of Christmas might be something a lot of people might be interested to read.

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